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CNN Live Saturday

Governor Richardson Meets With North Koreans

Aired January 11, 2003 - 18:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A senior administration official says the talks between a North Korean delegation and a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., "did not address the issues of concern to the international community."
The former ambassador, Bill Richardson, now the governor of New Mexico, says he believes that after the three days of talks there could be a peaceful resolution to the nuclear tensions.

A source inside the administration tells CNN that officials now have a clear insight into what North Korea's leader is trying to do. Although, it is still not clear what the president will do about the conflict. Dana Bush (sic) reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With the president spending a rare weekend at the White House, members of his National Security team gathered for a meeting, as a game of diplomatic chicken between the United States and North Korea unfolded.

Halfway across the country, a man neither on that team, nor in Mr. Bush's own party, wrapped up three days of unofficial talks with representatives of North Korea. Bill Richardson, a former Clinton official, kept in constant phone contact with Secretary of State Colin Powell during his nine hours of discussions.

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: ...told me that the government of North Korea wants to solve, resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue. Further, Ambassador Han told me -- and I think this is important -- that North Korea has no intentions of building nuclear weapons.

BASH: Not good enough, says the Bush administration, which essentially responded, actions speak louder than words. First North Korea must stop its nuclear programs, then the U.S. will talk.

A senior administration official said, "The U.S. has made it clear that we are prepared to talk to North Korea about how it would meet its obligations to the international community. In New Mexico, North Korea stated its willingness to have a dialogue, unfortunately, North Korea delegates did not address the issues of concern to the international community."

Part of that concern, fresh threats from North Korea it intends to restart its nuclear reactor within weeks and abandon a self-imposed moratorium on missile testing. Actions a Bush official says only further isolates Pyongyang from the world.

The North Korea ambassador to the United Nations told CNN the U.S is putting conditions on negotiations that are hard to accept. He said his country feels threatened. That the United States brought all this on by labeling North Korea a member of the axis of evil.

PAK GIL YON, NORTH KOREAN AMBASSADOR: The future developments with respect to the nuclear activities will depend on what the United States says (ph). If the United States continues to have a nuclear threat against the DPRK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Bush officials say North Korea restarted is nuclear program long before President Bush took office and that North Korea is intent on using brinkmanship to bring about dialogue, a tactic the U.S. is trying to resist -- Anderson.

COOPER: Dana, I have one question for you. First of all, I called you Dana Bush, before, which I apologize for.

BASH: No problem.

COOPER: I know you are a Washington insider, you're not that much of an insider to the administration.

BASH: No relation to the guy I cover, right.

COOPER: How is the U.S. trying to bring the international community to bear against North Korea?

BASH: Well, first of all, the U.S. is trying desperately to make sure that this is now what they think the North Koreans are trying to make it, a U.S. versus North Korea issue. They want it to be North Korea versus the world.

The U.S. backed the idea of taking this to the Security Council this week, after North Korea announced that they were going to back out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That is certainly a big step in getting the world involved in this issue. And they're still working through diplomatic channels. They had meetings earlier this week with officials from South Korea and Japan. And they are going to send an envoy from the State Department over to the region next week to make sure that those talks with the neighbors of North Korea continue, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Dana Bash, thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 11, 2003 - 18:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A senior administration official says the talks between a North Korean delegation and a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., "did not address the issues of concern to the international community."
The former ambassador, Bill Richardson, now the governor of New Mexico, says he believes that after the three days of talks there could be a peaceful resolution to the nuclear tensions.

A source inside the administration tells CNN that officials now have a clear insight into what North Korea's leader is trying to do. Although, it is still not clear what the president will do about the conflict. Dana Bush (sic) reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With the president spending a rare weekend at the White House, members of his National Security team gathered for a meeting, as a game of diplomatic chicken between the United States and North Korea unfolded.

Halfway across the country, a man neither on that team, nor in Mr. Bush's own party, wrapped up three days of unofficial talks with representatives of North Korea. Bill Richardson, a former Clinton official, kept in constant phone contact with Secretary of State Colin Powell during his nine hours of discussions.

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: ...told me that the government of North Korea wants to solve, resolve the nuclear issue through dialogue. Further, Ambassador Han told me -- and I think this is important -- that North Korea has no intentions of building nuclear weapons.

BASH: Not good enough, says the Bush administration, which essentially responded, actions speak louder than words. First North Korea must stop its nuclear programs, then the U.S. will talk.

A senior administration official said, "The U.S. has made it clear that we are prepared to talk to North Korea about how it would meet its obligations to the international community. In New Mexico, North Korea stated its willingness to have a dialogue, unfortunately, North Korea delegates did not address the issues of concern to the international community."

Part of that concern, fresh threats from North Korea it intends to restart its nuclear reactor within weeks and abandon a self-imposed moratorium on missile testing. Actions a Bush official says only further isolates Pyongyang from the world.

The North Korea ambassador to the United Nations told CNN the U.S is putting conditions on negotiations that are hard to accept. He said his country feels threatened. That the United States brought all this on by labeling North Korea a member of the axis of evil.

PAK GIL YON, NORTH KOREAN AMBASSADOR: The future developments with respect to the nuclear activities will depend on what the United States says (ph). If the United States continues to have a nuclear threat against the DPRK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Bush officials say North Korea restarted is nuclear program long before President Bush took office and that North Korea is intent on using brinkmanship to bring about dialogue, a tactic the U.S. is trying to resist -- Anderson.

COOPER: Dana, I have one question for you. First of all, I called you Dana Bush, before, which I apologize for.

BASH: No problem.

COOPER: I know you are a Washington insider, you're not that much of an insider to the administration.

BASH: No relation to the guy I cover, right.

COOPER: How is the U.S. trying to bring the international community to bear against North Korea?

BASH: Well, first of all, the U.S. is trying desperately to make sure that this is now what they think the North Koreans are trying to make it, a U.S. versus North Korea issue. They want it to be North Korea versus the world.

The U.S. backed the idea of taking this to the Security Council this week, after North Korea announced that they were going to back out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That is certainly a big step in getting the world involved in this issue. And they're still working through diplomatic channels. They had meetings earlier this week with officials from South Korea and Japan. And they are going to send an envoy from the State Department over to the region next week to make sure that those talks with the neighbors of North Korea continue, Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Dana Bash, thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com